>> schieffer: today on "face the nation," it's super bowlcc1: sunday, the event that's become parent of america's culture. new orleans is ready, and the fans around the country are excited about the big game. but when the president of the united states says h if he had a son hood think long and hard about letting him play the game, the commissioner of the national football league knows he's got a problem. >> i'll do anything that will help us make the game safer and better and they have my commitment to that. >> schieffer: but how do you make it safer without changing the game as away know it? we're ask commissioner roger goodell. we'll talk about that and today's game with the cbs broadcast team. jim nantz, former giants

quarterback phil simms, and hall of fame receiver shannon sharpe. it's the big game in the big easy, and it doesn't get any better than that. and this is "face the nation." captioning sponsored by cbs of super bowl xlvii, "face the nation" with bob schieffer. >> schieffer: we are in jackson square at historic new orleans just down want road from thesuperdome, wherecc1: baltimore ravens and the san francisco 49ers are going to face off this evening. we're joined by the commissioner of the national football league roger goodell, plus our cbs sports broadcast team, jim nantz, phil simms, who will be calling the game tonight. and hall of fame wide receiver and cbs analyst shannon sharpe, who seems to me the only guy here today wearing some super

bowl rings. >> i thought occasion warranted me bringing out the big diamonds. >> schieffer: mr. commission, i thank you for being with us. some very serious questions now that are on your plate. the president of the united states said he's not sure he'd want his kid to play football if he had a son. what is your reaction to this? would you want your children to play football now if-- >> absolutely. i have twin daughters, just like the president. and i'm concerned when they play any sport. the second highest incidence of concussions is actually girls' soccer. so what you have to do is make sure that the game is as safe as possible. in the nfl, we're changing the rules. we're making sure the equipment is the best possible equipment. we're investing in research to make sure that we can address concussions, not just to make football safer at the nfl level but all levels, and other sports. >> schieffer: well, let me ask you this-- and i'm going to ask you this question because some

widowes of some nfl players have asked me to ask you-- do you now acknowledge that there is' link between the game and these concussions that people have been getting, some of these brain injuries. >> that's why we're investing in the research so we can answer the question, what is the link? what causes some of the injuries that our players are still dealing with? and we take those issues very seriously. we're putting $30 million into the national institutes of health. this morning we announced an initiative with general electric to put more research into how do these injuries occur? how do we prevent them? and how do we diagnose them with some leading companies and this is something we think is going to be very important. >> schieffer: for years are the league would not acknowledge, really, that there was a connection. you now acknowledge that there isthere is a connection? >> bob, again, we're going to let the medical people make that point. we will give them the money and

we need to do everything we can to advance the game and make sure it's safe. >> schieffer: jim? >> >> well the commissioner talked about football and all sports. i think there's no question there's a link. there's still a lot more research to be conducted to find out exactly how soon these athletes come back to perform. do they come back too soon? do they put them back in the game too soon? i really applaud what roger has been doing. i know there's been an outcry by the players from the league, making the game too safe, taking away what is a contact sport. but i believe he is trying to look after the future, not only of the sport but of these individuals. some cries about these penalized or fined too much, but what they don't realize is there are thousands of people right now lined up with lawsuits against league. talk to them about what their later life is after football. you know, he's trying to look after your later life.

i really believe that. >> schieffer: you know, mr. commissioner, in light of those lawsuits, there are some people out there who are saying that the league hid the dangers of this game from the players who were playing it. did you? >> no. and in fact, we're all learning more about brain injuries and the nfl has led the way. we started a concussion committee back in the mid-90s with players association to study these issues and to advance science. we're, obviously, now learning more and more, and we're investing more and more, and i think that's going to landlord to answers, even outside the brain injury. i think even to brain disease. >> schieffer: phil, would you advise parents to let their kids play football? >> yes, i would. i have two kids, two sons that play football at many levels, even in the pros. and i would not hesitate now, especially, because what we have learned about what goes on with the contact and everything because here's why-- because they've changedly the rules to make the game safer. and it's changing at every single level. so that means it's even changing

in the pop warner. we're going to have generation of kids now starting, they're going to go through-- hopefully they'll play 10 years of professional football. but they're going to play their-- their contact is going to be limited to such a small percentage of what people like shannon and myself went through. so i think we're going to see-- it's going to take a few years but we're going to see a new generation of players that get through the nfl and their health is going to be so much better than some of the generations we've seen before. >> schieffer: shannon, what i want to ask you is how can you make this game safe and ensure that it's safe? football is about blocking and tackling. how do you make it safe and yet keep it football, the game that we know? >> well, i think the commissioner and the nfl have done a great job of trying to bring awareness, as you mentioned, from the pop warner level, the helmets-- they're trying to make them safer. they're dealing with the nascar, they're dealing with the military to try to find the safest helmet possible. it also comes down to the players. and you look at alex smith. he got a concussion.

he did everything right. he said, "i don't feel good." they took him out of the balz game. the week leading up to the next game, he didn't feel any better. they put colin kaepernick in and they're calling him the starter. now the players watching are saying why am i going to tell them i have a concussion if i run the risk of losing my job? colin kaepernick had a seat center stage. alex smith is walking around with the practice squad guy. so guys bear some responsibility pup look at the article that came out in the paper the other day that the commissioner had a 61% disapproval rating. change is always empty by resistance. you look at integration, it was met with resistance. you look at civil rights. it was met with resistance. but as we look back, we realize that was the right thing to do. i think 10, 15 years from now all the players will sit back and say, you know what? i didn't like what the commissioner did at the time, but it was the right thing to do. he has an obligation to the national football league to grow

it, make sure it's prosperous 30 gears now, but he also wants to make sure his players are healthy leaving the game and having a 20-year healthy rate after the game. >> we're talking about should your children play football? you have daughters. i have a daughter. we have the nankre national alzheimer's center at methodist hospital in houston. we're all over this research right now. i have committed my life to this. my father died of alzheimer's and i believe it was due to a football injury he suffered in college. research shows at the college level, a woman's soccer player is two and a half times more likely to suffer a concussion than a college football player. i don't hear anybody saying right now, should we put our daughters in these soccer programs? the point this issue spreads well beyond the nfl. they're at the top of the ladder so everybody looks up to the nfl. what are they going to do at the college level? the n.c.a.a. just hired a chief medical officer, dr. brian

hartline, for the first time. they really want to get their hands on this to affect everybody. you go the level below that to the high school level. concussions are happening in all these various sports. it's not isolated to the nfl. >> schieffer: let me just ask you this, commissioner. i guess they just ran a survey of the players and, what, four out of five say they don't trust the medical teams that the doctors have-- i mean, that the teams have. that sounds like they need to do something on that front. >> well, we have done things over want years, bob, on that. one is every player has the right to a second opinion. they can go to a neutral doctor unaffiliated with the team. second, just this week we announced we were bringing in an unaffiliated to doctor on to the sidelines to be about to help the team doctors with the analysis of whether somebody has had a concussion and be there for any kind of diagnostic help. i believe we are giving them the best possible medical care. these doctors are not team doctors alone.

they're with some of the best institutions in the world. >> schieffer: let me also ask you about how you have been received since you got here in new orleans. you were not a very popular fellow around here after you levied all those fines and suspensions against the saints in connection with the bounty scandal-- that is, when they were accused of putting bounties and paying players to hurt other players. how has it been since you got here? >> it's been great. the people here have been wonderful. they have done a great job here with the super bowl. they have been welcoming. they're loyal to their team and they should be. they weren't part of is this. their team was and the nfl. so i appreciate the passion they have, and they couldn't have been better this week. >> schieffer: so let's talk a little bit about the game. what's going to happen here? who do you like, phil? >> me, i'm not going to pick the game because jim and i are doing it, and i learned something a long time ago-- players really take it personal when you pick. a team. >> schieffer: you noticed that? >> i don't know if youinoid, they're really big mep, and they're young, so i'm not going

to upset them. i'm just looking forward-- we're hoping for an excite, close game. and, quite honestly, everybody at cbs, rear rooting for overtime because-- ( laughter ) there hasn't been one in the super bowl and it would be awesome to be part of one. >> we have one of the best story lines of all time. >> schieffer: unbelievable. >> two brothers. what are the odds, seriously, that you could have two children, opposite conferences, opposite sidelieps. you have the better chance of winning the national lottery, the super 6 or whatever. it's just amazing to think. i don't know how we're going to keep up with it all day long, three and a half hours if of if you just say, "coach harbaugh is going to do this." which harbaugh did you mean. we have to check ourselves. >> schieffer: their mom and dad are here in the town. they're two of the greatest people. they're just-- they're just regular folks, salt of the earth. their mom very competitive, and i guess they moved around all over because their dad's a

football coach. and it's just a great family to be rooting for the whole family. >> i couldn't imagine if i had a brother who played-- i had a brother who mailed in the national football league and we played against each other twice, he won once, and i won once, but to on this stage there this balz game it would tear me up upon i know it would tear my mom up, if i were to win this game, my greatest joy as a professional football player would come at the expense of my brother. it would tear me up. now, mind pu, i would run over the the top of my brother to make sure i won. ( laughter ) but once the game was over, i'd be in a lot of pain. >> your third ring? >> the first super bowl ring because my brother suffered a career-ending neck injury, gave him my first super bowl ring so that shows the kind of love and affection i have for him. but if he was on that field-- >> no, no, what else did you say when you were getting ready to come on the ear about your third super bowl ring?

>> i should take it back. >> schieffer: we're going to take a break and we'll come back and talk more football in just a minute. [ male announcer ] how could switchgrass in argentina, change engineering in dubai, aluminum production in south africa, and the aerospace industry in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 75% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospectus with investment information, risks, fees and expenses to read and consider carefully before investing. the world needs more energy. where's it going to come from? ♪ that's why right here, in australia, chevron is building one of the biggest natural gas projects in the world. enough power for a city the size of singapore for 50 years. what's it going to do to the planet?

natural gas is the cleanest conventional fuel there is. we've got to be smart about this. it's a smart way to go. ♪ >> schieffer: we're back with the commissioner of football, roger goodell, our cbs broadcast team. do you think football is going to be around? i know there was one player who said the other day he didn't know if football would still be here in 30 years. we do know sport come and go. when i was a kid the big sports were baseball and boxing. and you don't hear much-- boxing is still around but it's not where it was in those days. will football be here? >> absolutely. i couldn't be more optimistic about it because the game of football has always evolved, through the through the decadees, we've always made changes to our game, to make it safer, to make it more exciting,

to make it a better game for the players, for the fans, and we have done that in a very calculated fashion. so i'm very optimistic. >> schieffer: are there going to be changes in the rules? are we going to see different things introduced here? what are you thinking about? >> of course, we're always going to make changes in the rule as we always have. when we see techniques that we think can lead to injuries aware going to get them out of the game. one thing we're going to look at closely this year is low blocks and can low blocks cause injuries to cost players to misgames and miss speans we don't want to see that. fans want to see players on the field and we want the players on the field. >> schieffer: and you're gog have a neurologist, starting next year, on the field at the games. >> yes, we're going to have an unaffiliated neurologist at every game to support the team doctors. and if there is any need for their services, they will be available. >> schieffer: shannon, what-- what would you like to see? do you think there are some changes needed here in the rules and the procedures?

>> i love what the commissioner is doing. i love the fact that he's taking the initiative because it's easy to sit back and say they're making the game soft. it's not what it used to be when we played. but they don't have todale with the litigation that the national football league is facing. so the commissioner, along with the nfl p.a., is trying to make the game as safe as they possibly can to make sure we don't have another situation, say 30 gears now, where we have another four, 000, 5,000 people lined up to say this is what happened to me when i played in the national football league and now we want compensation. >> schieffer: phil, what do you think? >> i think in 30 years i think the league is going to be better than it is now. all this controversy we've been talking about the last year or two, how did it do this year? it went up. you know, interest is bigger than ever. and the one thing about the nfl-- it's not like any other sports league-- they change the rules every year to accommodate the fans, to make the game more exciting, and to make it safe. they're not afraid of change, and there are significant changes that go on every single year, and i know there will be a few this year, too.

>> schieffer: jim, does this change your job as a broadcaster? do you put empsis on dinner things? >> not a bit. >> schieffer: do you still talk about hard hits? do you still show the replays of hard his? >> it's changed the way the game is presented. i'm talking in general, highlight shows, et cetera, i'm not just talking cbs-- used to glorify a big hit. there used to be a sponsored element in a lot of the studio shows, let's celebrate the biggest hit of the day. somebody just blew someone up. they thought that was a great thing tho showcase. that's long gone. launching yourself at another player, coup of your helmet, we don't see that. and i haven't heard an outcry from the foons "the game is not the same. now that they've emphasized safety i'm not in love with the game before." i never heard a fan complain about it. i'll say this, 30 years from now, the nfl will still be here bigger and better than ever and you'll probably still be here doing "face the nation." ( laughter ). >> schieffer: you know what

andy rooney said one time. he said i didn't get old because i wanted to. just happened. if you're lucky, you'll get old, too. i hope we're all around here. what kind of game are we going to have? do you think it will be a game about running? a game about passing? ( sirens ) what will decide this game? >> i couldn't give you one reason why it will be decided. i know this-- we have exciting players on both sides of the football and i think what we saw on play-off football is the quarterbacks throwing the football down the field. it's pretty exciting. there are nothing like home runs when you watch a baseball game and we have home run hitters playing quarterback for both teams. so you will be on the edge of your seat for all time because it would be a long touchdown throw on the next play. >> schieffer: i can't remember this many good reek quarterbacks. >> i think it's because they start them out younger throwing the football. nfl coaches have become less rigid. they're not saying, "this is my system.

either you learn how to play within the system or you find another position." no, they've gone back to college. they've implemented what these players do really, really well. you look at rg3, cam newton, russell wilson and kaepernick. these guys add an element of what they did in college. and people said the spread option or pistol wouldn't work. well, it's here, guys. and i don't know if-- if kaepernick wins the super bowl, i don't know if there's going to be a league that transitions to that type of an offense because you have to find that type of guy to run that offense. i still think the pocket pass, the peyton mannings, the tom bradys, i think they still have a place in this game. >> schieffer: but these two quarterbacks, what a story both of them are, just from a personal standpoint. one guy is sitting on the bench at the start of the season. the other one is just this gritty, blue-collar kind of kauai, perfect for balt. >> kaepernick, came into our meeting on thursday and i pointed to phil, and phil was asking him some questions.

and i said colin, do you realize you're sitting next to a former super bowl mvp? and he kinds of looked at phil-- he's 25 years old. and he said, "you were?" i said,"maybe had the greatest game any quarterback has ever had in super bowl history, almost the perfect game." he said, "wow." and i said, "how old are you, colin?" he said, 25." and i said, "it was 25 years ago when phil won that game." and i said when is your birthday? november 3. on phil's birthday. you were feeling the connection. >> it was great, it was great. >> schieffer: last night we were coming out of a restaurant and getting into a cab and some woman ran up to me and said, "you're so wonderful. i love you all my life." and she turned around and said, "hey, everybody, dan rather's here." ( laughter ) >> you could be called worse things. >> commissioner what, are you looking for today? >> a close game. i think we've had incredible

play-offs this year. everybody is talking about how great the games have been. these teams are both on a roll. they have great stories. we always root for the team that's behind in the league office. that we'll have that close game. i think a harbaugh is going to come out on top. >> schieffer: a harbaugh is going to come out on top. >> i dont think san francisco won in an overtime game. i don't know if they want the game to come down to a kick. joe flacco, drop-back, quarterback throw the ball from the pocket. colin kaepernick, get wide, find lanes, run down the field. he proved in the championship game, he can throw the football. so it's going to be a hard-nosed football game. these teams are very reflective of their head coaches, very reflective. >> schieffer: there's nothing like a championship game, is there, jim, whether the world series, the super bowl? >> i've been around a few, 28 years now. this is the best buildup i have seen. new orleans has been the greatest host city. they know how to throw a party.

and the story of the harbaughes, we're 12 hours away from standing on the platform-- i'll be there with the commissioner-- to give away the lombardi trophy. i agree, it will be a harbaugh you'll be giving i trophy to. >> you ate too much of this cuisine all week long. >> we have definitely taken in the cuisine. >> schieffer: is that so? >> i've tried everything from duck dump lings to vodoo gumbo, and alligator. look, if they put it on a plate, i ate it. if it didn't move, i ate it. ( laughter ). >> schieffer: all right. >> bob, there is one moment before the game which we like to say we bring the congratulate together on super bowl sunday and she i think there's a moment when "america the beautiful" is sung today that i hope people don't miss today. it's going to be a real special moment for our country. the sandy hook elementary school is going to have the choir singing, along with jennifer hudson, and i just think it's going to be spectacular. >> schieffer: well, the best to all of you. have a good game.

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this invitation is brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. is here. if you were here, as we were in those awful days after katrina, you had to wonder then if the city that hosted nine super bowls could ever pull it off again. well, make no mistake, the big easy is bark not bigger but better than ever. the city that always had more fun per square inch than any place i know may have lost some population but the number of restaurants has nearly doubled. dinner at old reliables like galatois still taste exactly the samals the last time you were here, which is why people keep coming back. you'll find some new dishes, too, around town. a colleague found a vegan poi boy. new orleans has more good music on the sidewalks than most

cities have indoors. the thing, is people here know how to have a good time and want visitors to have one, too. people ask me who i'm cheering for today and my answer is the people of new orleans for the job they've done to bring this city back. only those who were here in the days after katrina can understand what they've accomplished. no one paid me to say this, but since it does sound like a commercial, i guess i'd better say i'm bob schieffer, and i approve new orleans. love it, actually. back in a minute. over to a sca tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 might let you get more out of it. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 like earning a bonus of up to $600 tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 in a schwab ira tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 and 150 commission-free online trades tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 plus our rollover consultants handle virtually tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 all the details tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 to help you focus on the bigger picture.

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"face the nation" today. but stay with cbs all day for our coverage of super bowl xlv xlvii, including scott pelley's live interview with president obama at 4:30 p.m. eastern. then the kickoff is at 6:25 p.m. eastern. we'll be back in washington next sunday. we'll see you then.